I am drilling through the problems on my recently acquired 320 and trying to resolve why the awning light doesn't work. I understand it only works on EHU.

This is what I've done so far to try and trace the problem:

Replaced bulbs with 12V LED G4 in the luminaire.
No voltage on the LED pins regardless of the internal switch position.
Checked switch to see if there are any loose connections (brown and blue wires) - no broken connections, no voltage either.
Checked the 5A fuse on the BIP - all OK
No voltage on the fuse connector.

I found out the following in the forum: "he (John) explained that the original BIP had its own 12V transformer and when its circuitry detected that mains current was connected it then switched a relay to allow the awning light to operate".

So do I have a problem with the BIP relay? Do I need to take the BIP apart to investigate?

Any advice appreciated.

Pete

Have you looked at the circuit diagram at the back of the manual. One here

2007 Owners Manual

It looks to my inexperienced eye that the awning is only powered from the 12v off the BIP transformer to me. (ie no switching involved) but I may be wrong.

I'm sure someone on here has rewired/bypassed it so it was only inhibited when connected to the towing electrics which is what the reasoning for this feature is for but badly implemented.

Alternatively maybe you could rewire it to the other 12V lamps and take responsibility to make sure it's turned off before towing.

look at post #18 here
17v on mains hook up (2)
you could try this to verify your physical wiring is ok.


Steve

yep only works on electricity plug in power.
however for those who go off grid can join into the kitchen light feed wire to power 12v. its the nearest circuit in the upper cupboard.
however do have to remember to turn off light. helpful to upgrade the bulbs to led versions. for power conservation.

To close off this thread I thought I would post an update.

As a quick fix to get the awning light working for an upcoming weekend trip, I connected the spade terminal awning light wire in the BIP (top connection on the fuseway fed by 5A fuse) to the front dinette light terminal #6 on the fuseway (this is unused on the Familia 320 as there is no front dinette). This means the awning light is powered always by the 12V side so not dependent on EHU connection.However this arrangement is not road legal as the light isn’t automatically extinguished when towing. The BIP circuitry has a relay which allows the awning light to operate only while on EHU - when off grid you have no awning light which I think is a poor design. The relay on my BIP has failed anyway so it didn't work under any circumstances. Now that I've installed a Ctek smart charger to bypass the BIP battery charging circuitry, all 12V appliances are supplied by the battery and not the BIP. This is fine as I've converted all the lights (except road lights) to LED.

To get the awning light road legal, I’ve installed a mini change over relay feeding the awning light from fuseway terminal #5 counting from the top. The relay coil is powered trailer pin 10 (which should supply fridge power from the vehicle) tapped from the fridge relay. This is the arrangement that Ray Lawrence has posted elsewhere in this forum. So when towing and powered, the relay will switch over and disable the power to the awning light. This has an extra advantage over the original setup in that the awning light will work when off-grid.

Here is the Circuit diagram (revised Jan 2024), Relay Mounting picture and Fuseway Connections.The brown wire labelled 'Earth' is the earth terminal #85 on the relay. The 5A fuse (terminal 1) from the old BIP relay for the awning light is redundant as the relay has blown.

Awning Relay v2.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Awning Relay Mounting.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Fuseway Connections.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

I purchased the Durite relay from 12Vplanet.com as this came with a mounting bracket.

The relay change-over terminal #87 (powered when the relay is energised i.e. when towing) is now used to provide for a rear view camera supply. I'm in the process of looking at various wireless camera options and how to securely mount a rear camera to the Eriba without drilling any holes. This will be the topic of another post when I get round to it.

Pete